Well, that's comforting

By Hanson Reed | Echo

I wash my clothes as little as possible. I dry clean my jeans by hanging them over a chair for a few days before rotating them back into action. I've got a wool flannel going on a month and a half of near-constant wear because I just can't make it stink. Synthetic stuff reeks whether you wash it or not. Mud and blood are badges of honor.

Even so, I do laundry on occasion. I don't care who you are, where you're from, what you did: Everybody runs out of clean underwear (a point which could serve as a wellspring of meaning and metaphor were one so inclined). Some of us have been doing our own laundry for years, and some just started winging it when we got to college. Either way, we all have a routine, and for a significant number of us that routine includes the use of fabric softener or dryer sheets. Maybe even both.

For the love of all things holy, please stop!

See, I've been reading, which is almost always a dangerous thing. I've never used either of the products in question (because, let's be honest, we're lucky I use soap). I actually had to do a Google search just to find out what exactly they are intended to do: make fabric feel softer, reduce static cling and make it smell good.

I am admittedly more sensitive to most chemicals than the average person, so I never thought much of having negative reactions to all the perfumes and such present in the laundry room. I just avoid it. What I have been surprised by though is the extent to which other people's freshly cleaned laundry forces me to seek fresh air.

Panty folding party? Forget about it.

I'm weird. I know that. Just because a pair of freshly cleaned, static free, soft-as-warm-butter pants is enough to give me a sore throat and a headache doesn't mean this stuff bothers anyone else in the least. But then again, I was curious. These are products designed to stay in clothes after they are washed, coating them with a layer of chemicals that reduces cling and makes them feel soft, while releasing fragrance gradually. If there actually was anything toxic in fabric softener and/or dryer sheets, even in minute amounts, that would be a significant cause for concern. Wearing garments on which they have been used every day for a lifetime could act as a constant low dose delivery, with chemicals being absorbed through the skin and inhaled through the nose.

The first thing I found out was that reading labels doesn't tell you much, because not all of the ingredients are listed. Those that are listed are vague categories. I want specific compounds.

Back to Google.

I did a search on whether dryer sheets were toxic, and the same for fabric softener. Both queries returned numerous lists of common ingredients, with not much difference between the two products. Alpha-terineol, benzyl acetate, camphor, ethyle acetate, linalool and pentane were just a few frequent ones, and chloroform even made a few lists.

What a lot of these have in common is their link to central nervous system disorders (which include everything from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's to ADHD and migraines). Or they are carcinogenic. Or they are on the EPA's hazardous waste list. Most likely, they sport a combination of these credits.

Granted, these chemicals are present in low amounts, and there are plenty of other places you are exposed to little bits of nasty stuff. That's life. But these products are something with which you are in constant contact every day. That adds up.

Especially when you are looking at diseases that normally don't come until later in life, small acts of prevention now are leveraged over many years. Ditching these products seems to be a simple and relatively painless measure to take. If you still want extra soft laundry, I hear adding baking soda to the wash does the trick. Throwing a ball of aluminum foil in the dryer with your clothes reduces static. I've even heard there are brands of "all natural" fabric softener, although I can't speak to their purity or effectiveness.